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Turoon's Rebellion
Who is Turoon? Turoon was born sometime around 200 BT. He is known as the hero of the mortal races of the Shrouded Isles. The story goes that for 200 years he secretly built up support among the mortals and then he finally brought them together and smote the dragon gods with his storm magic. The origin of Turoon's power and his ancestry is unknown, but there are always suspicions. The Rebellion Rallying the Mortals From roughly 200-0 BT Turoon traveled the isles recruiting anyone he could find to fight the dragon tyrants. It is known that not a single civilized mortal said no, and that the recruitment was more like rousing them from a slumber than filling them with propaganda. Turoon, of course, knew that the battle against the dragons would be perilous and deadly, so he chose to leave some of the participating races back in their homes. It is estimated that Turoon still took 95% of these races, leaving cities empty and villages bare. However, there were the tribes of Goblinoids and other feral humanoids who declined Turoon's rescue. They believed that their own hides were more valuable than the liberation of all mortals. They saw the conflict as outside their interest, so Turoon left them and continued on with only the more noble races. List of Races and their Participation Participants * Humans * Halflings * Dwarves * Genasi * Gnomes * Tieflings * Tritons * Lionfolk * Arakokras * Loxodons * Minotaurs * Centaurs * Vedalken Non-Participants * Orcs * Goblins * Hobgoblins * Giants * Goliaths * Lizardfolk * Tabaxi * Bugbears * Kobolds * Yuan-ti * All other monstrous creatures such as Cyclops, Krakens, etc Not present or unable * Elves (Not yet in existence) * Firbolgs (left to keep the forest spirits pleased) * Gith (Deep underground, far away from the conflict) * Dragonborn (not yet in existence) * Aasimar (Very rare, no documentation, likely did not exist yet) * Squirrelfolk (Left with the Firbolgs) * Tortles (Left to keep the centers of information safe) The Battle The battle itself was fast and devastating. All of the mortals who came to fight rallied under Turoon's banner in the center island. There, Turoon performed a magical ritual to force the dragons from their thrones in heaven. Then, all ten of the dragon tyrants came down, and they fought against Turoon's massive army. During this battle, Turoon's magical sword grew blue with his lightning magic, and he cleaved into the dragons while flying across the battlefield on a cloud of his own creation. With one final blow, Turoon cut the head off of the last dragon, and he claimed victory and liberation for the mortals of the Shrouded Isles. However, when he gazed upon the battlefield, he found he was the only one of the mortals left. The Imprisonment As the powers of the dragons flew out from their corpses, Turoon took them and caged them in the ten islands of the archipelago. He spread out their power so that they could not rally and escape from their prisons. Turoon then build a great library, and filled it with the knowledge of how to control the dragons and their powers. He constructed a massive palace, built with the strongest magical fortifications, and sealed the library deep in the mountain of its perch. He even created his own language, Old Elvish, so that he could make sure only the learned could understand his prisons. The First Elves and Dragonborn The Elves and Old Elvish Turoon was the first elf, and when he created the Imperial Library and Palace, he also created their caretakers. At first, there were only a hundred or so elves, all of different kinds. There were Sea Elves, High Elves, Drow, Wood Elves, and Eladrin. All of them were tasked with understanding Old Elvish and protecting the Imperial secrets. While the majority of Elves remain in this function. Some of them have journeyed out into the isles to seek their own purpose. Elves who have left their imperial posts are called "Farkind," and they are treated as stange, foreign, and somewhere between special and dangerous. To this day the elves remain small in number, estimates place them at around 20000 strong, with roughly 19500 of those being in the Imperial Island. They are generally considered to be above the other mortals in society, as they are considered the closest to Turoon. The Dragonborn Of course, nothing is absolute, and the some of powers of the dragons did leak out before Turoon caught them. These powers, often portrayed as glowing orbs of chromatic light, made their way into the villages of the islanders, and cursed some of the townsfolk with dragon blood. These cursed individuals are known as Dragonborn, and to this day they only number in the hundreds. Some of the cursed hate their burden, and view their newfound dragon powers as a disgrace. Others study the powers with scholastic tools. The most greedy of them choose to nurture their powers, with plots of bringing back the old ways. The Forming of the Imperial Government In Turoon's later years, he established an Imperial Government to keep order across the isles. The nature of that government is as follows: * The Shrouded Isles are ruled from the center, or Imperial, Island. Specifically, the palace in Papallachan serves as the seat of the Emperor. * Turoon's family are the Imperial family. Originally, Turoon created the family with magic, but now they are bound to existence like all the other races. The imperial crown is passed down to the oldest child of the Emperor. * The family is very secretive, often, commoners know only the name and the known actions of the current Emperor. The names and faces of the surrounding Imperial family are completely unknown. This choice is for security reasons, and so the Imperial family can blend in with the common Elves. * Time passes differently in the Imperial Island, things seem to move so that, while the surrounding islands remain stagnant, the Imperial Island progresses rapidly. * Each island has its own government, which is decided and maintain entirely by the island itself. The governments can be any kind, as long as it functions and is stable. The Islands may not fight against each other or they risk Imperial wrath. The Forming and Rules of the New Religions When Turoon dispersed the dragons' powers, he knew that the energy would be a tempting power for any aspiring wizard, so he lay out rules for new organized religion. He structured the religions by island, and by the domain of their parent dragon. He told the religious leaders to view their religions as that of a deity within a larger pantheon, and they all still follow that mentality. As such, the modern religions focus mostly on the domain of the power on their island. All religious power is divined from the energy that Turoon distributed to their island. Throughout all the empire, the only legal way to use religious power is through the lens of these religions. The domains and names of the imperial religion are as follows: * White: The cycle of reincarnation * Green: * Silver: * Blue: * Black: * Red: * Brass: * Bronze: * Copper: * Gold: Social Consequences The immediate problem following Turoon's victory is under-population. Around 95% of the civilized mortals were killed in the battle, so to this day the islands are drastically underpopulated. A majority of the old towns have been abandoned, and the survivors often live in the centers of what used to be much larger cities. While some of the ruins are mapped in old maps, many of them have been lost to time, and there are ruins filled with old artifacts around many corners. In the absence of civilized population, many of the monstrous races of the Isles have encroached further into civilization. As such, many of the old ruins are filled with new inhabitants. In addition, many of the more intelligent monsters see the lack of civilization as an opportunity to gain much greater power and status. Raids and assassinations against Imperially endorsed governments are known to have happened, and scheming is certainly in the nature of their dangerous neighbors.